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February 2011

The Honourable Ross Wiseman

Minister of Environment and Conservation

4th Floor, West Block

Confederation Building

P.O. Box 8700

St. John’s, NL

A1B 4J6

Dear Mr. Wiseman,

As a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador, I am concerned about the lack of government response to frequent and numerous calls for a ban on the sale and use of cosmetic pesticides in Newfoundland and Labrador.

You may be aware that Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the Canadian Military and 34 municipalities in British Columbia have banned cosmetic pesticides, yet Newfoundland and Labrador has not. I am writing to ask you why not?

There is much evidence that pesticides harm environmental and human health. Inorganic chemical pesticides are implicated in a wide range of cancers, including Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and brain tumours, as well as skin and respiratory diseases, endocrine disruption and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. There are many safe and organic alternatives to using an unnecessary pesticide.

Keep in mind; we are not discussing pesticides used for agriculture, only those used for ornamentation.

Banning cosmetic pesticides is actually good for the economy. Halifax has seen a huge increase in the number of lawn care companies since the city introduced a by-law on cosmetic pesticides.

Challenges from pesticide makers and lawn care companies have been dismissed by the supreme court- just look at the precedent set by Spraytech et al. vs. Hudson, Quebec. The dismissal was done to protect the health and safety of the people of Hudson and this happened nearly ten years ago! Surely, our government can step up and bring in new legislation, modelled after that of Ontario, to ban these chemicals from our environment.